Sheet feeding apparatus



March 16, 1948. w E, SCHNElDER 2,437,792

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS Filed June 1, 1944 efraim/fr atented OFFICE SET FEEDING APPARATUS Walter E. Schneider, Pearl River, N. Y., assignor to Dexter Folder Company, Pearl River, N. Y., a corporation of New York d Claims.

I'hls invention relates to sheet feeders, and more particularly to pile elevators therefor employed to support and raise a pile of sheets to position for feeding of the sheets one after another from the top of said pile.

One object lof the present invention is to provide a sheet feeder having a pile elevator so constructed that any portion of the pile of sheets thereon may be bodily shifted easily and conveniently to effect 'a level condition at the top of said pile.

Another object is to provide a pile elevator having pile supporting cross members so constructed that opposite ends thereof may be independently raised or lowered to bring a portion or portions of the pile of sheets to a plane level with the remaining portions of said pile.

A further object is to provide a sheet feeder having a pile elevator of the suspended type including a pair of pile supporting cross members so constructed that said members may be-bodily raised or lowered independent of each other, whereby the level of an entire transverse portion of the pile may be varied with respect to the level of other portions of said pile.

The above and further objects and novelfeatures of the present invention will more fully appear from the following detail description when the same is read in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only, and are not intended as a definitionof the limits of the invention, reference for this latter purpose being had primarily to the appended claims.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views,

Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a sheet feeder` embodying a pile elevator constructed in accordance with the present inven tion;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation, partly in section, of the pile elevator, with parts thereof omitted for purposes of clearer illustration, and showing said elevator in pile supporting and pile receiving positions; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig.A 1.

Referring to the drawings, 5 indicates the front uprights and 6 the rear uprights of a frame of the feeder, the front uprights having heads I bolted thereto, and the rear uprights having heads 8 bolted thereto. The front and rear heads I and 8 are connected together by side members 9.

Extending transversely of the feeder is a shaft III Journalled at its opposite ends in brackets II bolted to the adjacent heads 1. Fixed on opposite ends of shaft IIJ are worms I2 which mesh with worm gears I3 that are xed on corresponding ends of shafts I4. The latter extend longitudinally of the feeder at opposite sides thereof and are journalled in suitable bearings formed in the heads "I, and in brackets I6 bolted to the side members 9.

Fixed on shafts I 4 are toothed sheaves I6 in the teeth of which are engaged links of chains Il that are connected at their lower ends by couplings i8 to side bars I9 of a pile elevator including said chains. The pile elevator also includes longitudinally spaced cross beams 20 which are supported by the bars I9. Beams 20 are adapted to receive and support a pile board 2I and a pile of sheets 2'2 thereon, said beams being provided at the tops thereof with rollers 23 on which the pile board rests so that the latter and the pile of sheets may be readily adjusted sidewise on the elevator to proper position in the feeder.

The elevator may be rapidly lowered to the machine foundation to load it, and raised to bring the top of the pile of sheets to proper position for feeding, by any suitable means for these purposes. Shaft Ill is then intermittently rotated in the usual manner by any well known means to raise the elevator step by step in order to maintain` the top of the pile at the proper feeding level as the sheets are separated one after another therefrom by sheet separating devices, and forwarded in succession by sheet forwarding devices to conveying means indicated generally at 24. The sheet separating and forwarding devices form no part of the present invention and it is therefore unnecessary to illustrate and describe the same in detail. During step by step upward movement of the elevator, the front edge of the pile isfguided by spaced pile guides 25 supported in any suitable manner on the feeder frame.

In accordance with the present invention, the pile supporting cross beams 20 are connected with the side bars I9 of the elevator in a novel manner so that opposite ends of said beams may be independently raised or lowered at will relative to said bars whereby any portion of the pile of-sheets 22 thereon may be bodily raised or lowered with respect to the other portions to effect a level condition at the top of the pile and to maintain a denite operating relation between the sheet separating and forwarding devices vand those portions of the pile engaged by said devices.

As herein shown, each cross beam 20 has secured to the opposite ends thereof, as by welding,

` arms 21 and 28. Inserted upwardly through opening 3i in arm 28 and threaded through the ythreaded bore 33 in hook member 29 is a jack screw 34 formed at its upper end with a reduced non-threaded portion 35 which extends through the opening 30 in arm 21 and has welded thereto a retaining washer or collar 36. Screw 34 is formed at its lower end with an enlarged circular head 31, and with a square or hexagon head 39 to receive a wrench or similar tool for rotating said screw.A Rotation of hook member 29 relative to bracket 26 is prevented through engagement of the inner fiat surface of said member with the adjacent fiat face of said bracket.

Hook members 29 are engaged over the elevator side bars I9 to support the cross beams 20, pile board 2i and pile of sheets 22 for elevation thereby, and to facilitate movement of said beams along said bars to proper pile supporting position, the members 29 are each provided with two laterally spa-ced anti-friction rollers 39 journalled on pins 40 fixed in said members. To further facilitate handling of beams 20, the latter are provided at each end thereof with two casters 4I carried in suitable sockets formed in extensions Y 42 of brackets 26.

Assuming now that it is desired to load the sheet feeder with a pile of sheets, the side bars I9 of the elevator are lowered to the machine foundation, whereupon one of the bars I9 is lifted manually out of the way and the cross beams 2|! are rolled lengthwise on the casters 4I into the feeder until the body 32 of hoolnmember 29 on the leading end of each cross beam contacts the ODDOSite side bar I9, as shownin dotted lines in Fig. 2. 4'I'he lifted side bar I9 is then again lowered to the machine foundation at which time said bar engages the bodies 32 of the adjacent hook members 29. A pile board 2I is the/n placed on beams 20 and a supply orf/sheets piled on said board. It Will be understood that a skid type of pile board having runnersor legs on the underside thereof may be used instead of the plain pile board herein illustrated. In this case the skid together with the pile of sheets thereon are truckloaded into the feeder through the rear or either side of the feeder, after which the cross beams are rolled into position beneath said skid and pile, as previously described.

Engagement of side bars I9 with bodies 32 as aforesaid, automatically positions the hook members 29 directly above said bars, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, so that upon upward movement of chains I1, the side barswill automatically enthe characteristics of the paper, or improper piling of the sheets on the elevator, or, in the case of printed sheets, due to the embossing eect of the-printing as well as the layer of lnk on the individual sheets, said irregularities may be quickly and conveniently compensated for through rotation of one or more of the jack screws 34. Upon rotation of one of the jack screws, for example, the end of the cross beam 20 under the control of said screw is raised or lowered, depending on the direction of rotation of the screw, relative to the hook member 29 and the adjacent side bar I9, without affecting the relative position of the opposite end 4of said beam, The portion of the pile under the inuence of said adjustment will thus be raised or lowered bodily, as the case may be, without affecting the remaining portions of the pile, thereby bringing the upper surface of said portion to proper level. Any portion of the pile may thus be adjusted to proper level through rotation of one or more of the jack screws 34,

which may be effected not only before the feeder is initially started, but also while the feeder is in operation to maintain a uniform pile level as the sheets are fed one after another from said pile. Further, through rotation of jack screws 34 on corresponding ends of both cross beams 20, an entire longitudinal portion of the pile may be bodily raised or lowered, and through rotation of both jack screws on either of said beams, the latter may be bodily raised or lowered and thus shift an entire transverse portion of the pile,

If, for any reason, it is desired to present the pile of sheets t-o the sheet handling devices in a manner such that the top thereof is at a greater or lesser angle with respect to horizontal, this may be leasily effected by raising or lowering one of the cross beams bodily relative to the elevator side bars through rotation of the jack screws on lboth ends thereof.

There is thus provided a pile elevator having pile supporting cross members so constructed that any portion of a pile of sheets supported thereon may be easily and conveniently shifted to effect a level condition at the top of the pile through raising or lowering of either end of said cross members relative to the side bars of the elevator on which said members are supported. Also, the pile supporting cross members may be bodily raised or lowered independent of each other, whereby the level of an entire transverse portion of the pile of sheets may be shifted with respect to the level of the remaining portions of the pile.

Although a single embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in the foregoing specification, it is to be expressly understood that changes may be made therein particularly in the design and arrangement of the `parts illustrated, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as Will now be clear to those skilled in the art. For example, the jack sc'rews may be arranged for manipulation above the cross beams by merely reversing the openings in the end brackets and inserting said screws downwardly through the tops of said brackets. For a definition of the limits of the invention, reference is had primarily to the appended claims.

'What is claimed is:

1. In sheet feeding apparatus of the type having a pile elevator including two laterally spaced vertically movable bars, and a pair of longitudinally spaced, elongated members disposed between said bars and adapted to support a pile of sheets thereon, of means for supporting said members on said bars and providing for vertical adjustment of the same bodily and angularly relative to the bars comprising a relatively nxed member engaged over one of said bars, and a relatively movable member supporting an end of one of said elongated members on said iixed member.

2. In a suspended type of pile elevator including two laterally spaced bars. and a pair of longitudinally spaced cross beams disposed between said bars and adapted to support a pile of sheets thereon, of means for connecting said beams with said bars and providing for vertical adjustment of said beams relative to said bars comprising an externally threaded member rotatably carried by each beam at opposite ends thereof, and an internally threaded element having threaded engagement with each oi said members and provided with a downwardly facing hook for engagement with said bars.

3. In sheet handling apparatus of the type having a pile elevator. means for supporting a pile of sheets on said elevator comprising two longitudinally spaced cross beams. brackets secured to opposite ends of said cross beams and each having vertically spaced laterally projecting arms, a jack screw rotatably mounted in said arms, and a hook member disposed between the arms and having threaded engagement with said jack screw.

4. In a pile elevator of the suspended type employing two laterally spaced bars adapted to support longitudinally spaced cross beams f carrying a pile of sheets, the combination with y said bars and beams of means for supporting said beams on said bars, said means including spaced arms secured to an end of one of said beams, a hook member including a body portion disposed between said arms, and means extencling through said arms and body portion for moving said arms relative to said hook member.

WALTER E. SCHNEIDER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the :tile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

